Abstrakt
New research and educational institutions related to political parties have been emerging in the Czech Republic over the last few years. The Bohuslav Sobotka administration introduced state subsidies in 2017 contributing to their increase.
The new legislation also brought a new concept for them - the so-called political institute. It can be included as to other terms such as political foundations, academies, study centres or party think tanks.
These are institutionalized organizations operating in public space for a long time, across continents. In the Czech Republic, we can find their representatives rooted in the first half of the 20th century.
However, in the Czech environment, the issue of expert institutions related to political parties has not been assessed yet. The new legislation has defined the tasks and areas that political institutes should be addressing.
However, their financing has been increased in state budget expenditures for political parties. In this context, the work of the institutes to analyze and confront the expectations of legislators with reality is legitimate.